Week one of Adobe Academy has already come to an end. Last week we teamed up with Adobe’s Education team, specifically Dr. Brian Johnsrud, Education Curriculum Strategy Lead, and Clara Galand, Global Education Community Lead, to bring you a webinar with all the details on what resources Adobe has created to help educators in the classroom (both in-person and virtual).
Adobe’s mission is to inspire and empower the next generation to be lifelong creators. They support educators in every subject and discipline as they transform teaching and learning to help students think, collaborate, create, and communicate in new ways. In our webinar last week, Brian and Clara shared free resources to help foster creative skills and digital literacy.
Find out what you’re missing!
Professional Development
Adobe has launched over 20 free, self-paced courses for educators, administrators, and school leaders. More courses will be coming soon. These courses prepare you to combine digital literacy, subject-specific learning outcomes, and essential skills, like the 4 Cs (Creativity, Communication, Collaboration, and Critical Thinking). Most courses have optional assignments where, upon completion, participants receive a badge and certificate for professional development hours. Courses vary in length from 2-15 hours of combined content and assignment time.
For educators interested in the Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) program, “Certifying Adobe Skills in Your Classroom” is a great starting point. This 3-hour workshop discusses the value of certification, the structure of ACA exams, and best practices for incorporating certification into your curriculum.
Adobe has also created Professional Learning Kits for educators looking to facilitate in-person or online workshops about teaching digital literacy and essential skills with Adobe Creative Cloud. Each toolkit has all the materials you need to plan an awesome session, including invitations, session agendas, slide decks, facilitator guides, educator resources, and follow-up email templates. For those teaching the ACA exams, there are two Professional Learning Kits: Creating Digital Images with Adobe Photoshop and Graphic Design with Adobe Illustrator.
Curriculum
If you’re not part of the Adobe Education Exchange, it’s time to change that. There you’ll find lesson plans, projects, and activities to enhance any digital media or general education course. You can find resources that work for you, plus, share your expertise with the global educator community by providing feedback or uploading your own materials.
Adobe has just launched over 350 ready-to-use teaching resources, complete with lesson plans, creative projects, student examples, and rubrics. You can find all the K12 resources here, and Higher Education resources here.
Adobe is continuing to expand their educator resources with new initiatives and partnerships. Adobe has partnered with classroom teachers and Khan Academy to produce 40+ creative and engaging activities that build upon Khan Academy’s free, world-class lessons for students of all ages. You can see the collection of activities here.
If you’re looking for additional activities and projects, then the new Creative Kickstarters series will be perfect. These hands-on projects help inspire creativity, critical thinking, creative problem solving, and collaboration in any class. Students will handle real-world tasks, like creating graphics, videos, and other digital media as they explore texts, interpret source material, and explain complex concepts.
Don’t let the new ideas distract you from the basics. Adobe has resources for establishing fundamentals as well. The Digital Careers Teaching Resources include four project-based curriculums with dozens of modular activities that teach design, communication, project management, and technical skills. And did we mention that all of these are based on the ACA certification exams? Plus, you can also find app-specific teaching resources on the Education Exchange, simply filtering by whatever Adobe application you plan to use with your students.
Instructional Content
Adobe produces fun, helpful, and inspirational content to help users at all levels, from beginners to design experts. While not intended for classroom use, Adobe tutorials and live streams are fantastic resources for digital media educators.
Visit Creative Cloud Learn & Support for beginner and advanced tutorials and project ideas for every application. Add these engaging, easy-to-follow videos to your curriculum, or use them to build your own skills. This content is also useful for preparing students for Adobe Certified Associate exams, which require a firm grasp on core features, basic workflows, and foundational industry concepts.
You can also bring other creative professionals into your classroom through Adobe Live on Behance. Tune into Adobe Live every day to hear from artists and designers as they show off their workflows and techniques, share career advice, and answer questions from viewers around the world.
Don’t forget to remind your students that young creators can join the party as well. Adobe recently launched Gen Create, a resource hub for young creators. Here your students will find fun tutorials and project ideas, career advice, and exciting opportunities like scholarships, grants, and design contests.
Distance Learning Support
bahabeach and Adobe are aware that educators are dealing with significant challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Adobe has assembled a resource hub to help educators and school leaders adapt to the challenges of online and blended learning. They have everything you may need:
- Lessons, Projects, and Activities: Keep students engaged and motivated with creative assignments that deepen and demonstrate their learning. Many of these projects utilize or can be adapted for Adobe Spark, a set of beginner-friendly tools that are accessible on mobile devices and available with premium features for FREE to all education institutions. Check out the K12 resources here, and Higher Education resources here.
You can also learn more about bahabeach’s learning products and how they can help you prepare your students for the ACA exam, even in this distance learning phase. All that information is coming in next week’s webinar.
Community
Connecting with other creative educators is a great way to refresh your curriculum and breathe new life into your classroom. Luckily, Adobe has created multiple outlets to connect to your fellow teachers.
- Adobe Education Exchange: We’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again. You don’t want to miss out on this community. Use the community tab and discussion forums to share your questions, ideas, and expertise with 700,000 members.
- Community Programs: Adobe creates opportunities for networking, growth, and peer-to-peer learning through community programs that nurture and celebrate education professionals. Our community members are innovators and problem-solvers who want to push education forward to better prepare students for the challenges of the future.
- Adobe Creative Educator: The new Adobe Creative Educator program welcomes educators from every subject area and grade level who inspire creativity for the next generation. Member benefits include curated professional development and instructional materials, information about virtual and in-person events, opportunities to promote your work on Adobe Education social channels, and more. To start your journey as an Adobe Creative Educator, complete the Level 1 course and assignment.
- Livestreams and Events: Follow Adobe for Education on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter to stay up-to-date virtual and in-person events for educators. Adobe’s biggest event is right around the corner: Adobe MAX! This year's creativity conference is virtual, free, and jam-packed with 56 hours of non-stop inspiration and learning, starting on October 20 at 9 AM PT. With over 350 sessions and labs across 10 tracks, global collaborative projects, and celebrity appearances, this is an immersive experience you don't want to miss. Register today to start building your MAX 2020 schedule, and make sure to invite your students. There is also a pre-conference bootcamp on October 19, just for students and emerging creators.
The possibilities to use Adobe’s educator resources in your classroom are endless. Share this article along with the hashtag #AdobeAcademy and tell us how you plan to use these resources with your students!